27th Jul 2022 https://nfind.uk/lockdown_exit/index.php/newsletter=709 lockdown_exit

Lockdown Exit

The Independent Long Covid is costing the UK 1.5bn in lost earnings per year as the number of people off work with the condition rises to almost 2 million according to new research. The Institute for Fiscal Studies IFS think tank estimated that 110000 people are absent from work at any time due to long Covid with those who were on lower incomes before the pandemic more likely to be sufferers. One in 10 long Covid sufferers who were in employment stop work while they have the condition the IFS said. The findings will heap further pressure on the government to tackle a problem which is expected to grow further as infections rise again. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/long-covid-off-work-earnings-ifs-b2131706.html 27th Jul 2022

Lockdown Exit

The BMJ Chuan De Foo and colleagues argue that isolation facilities have the potential to interrupt the transmission of infectious agents particularly in the earlier stages of infectious disease outbreaks but they must deliver person centred care. Two years into the covid19 pandemic footage from isolation centres in Shanghai showing unrest have raised questions about the safety utility and appropriate use of such facilities https://www.bmj.com/content/378/bmj-2021-069558 26th Jul 2022

Lockdown Exit

The Wall Street Journal As the highly contagious Omicron BA.5 subvariant surges across the nation weeks before schools reopen for fall most U.S. districts are choosing fast cheap ventilation solutions despite billions in federal aid data show. A federal study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found nearly twothirds of schools arent planning to replace or upgrade their heating ventilation and airconditioning systems. Instead about 70 of schools in the CDC survey reported lowcost steps to increase student safety including relocating activities outdoors inspecting and validating existing HVAC systems and opening doors and windows. About a third of schools were installing highefficiency particulate airfiltration systems in highrisk areas according to the study released in June. Some schools have cited supplychain issues tight deadlines or bureaucratic challenges as reasons for not upgrading. https://www.wsj.com/articles/schools-choose-cheaper-ventilation-options-as-ba-5-subvariant-spreads-11658741400 26th Jul 2022

Lockdown Exit

The Wall Street Journal A rise in Covid19 absences in recent weeks amid the spread of the BA.5 subvariant combined with planned time off has left restaurants hotel chains manufacturers and other workplaces struggling to keep operations running this summer. At some companies bosses say staffing is harder now than at any previous stage in the pandemic. For the period from June 29 to July 11 3.9 million Americans said they didnt work because they were sick with Covid19 or were caring for someone with it according to Census Bureau data. In the comparable period last year 1.8 million people missed work for those reasons. Many workers also are taking vacations that they put off over the previous two years. According to the Labor Department 4.8 million workers took vacation or personal days during the week of the Census Bureaus June household survey this year compared with 3.7 million workers who were taking time off in the comparable period last year. https://www.wsj.com/articles/calling-in-sick-or-going-on-vacation-workers-arent-showing-up-this-summer-11658741402 26th Jul 2022

Lockdown Exit

Evening Standard on MSN.com Joe Bidens Covid19 symptoms have almost completely resolved according to a new note from the US presidents doctor. Although he still has some nasal congestion and hoarseness his vital signs remain absolutely normal wrote Dr Kevin OConnor. The 79yearold has been taking Paxlovid an antiviral drug that helps reduce the chance of severe illness from Covid19 and he plans to continue isolating in the White House residence. https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/newslondon/joe-biden-e2-80-99s-covid-symptoms-e2-80-98almost-completely-resolved-e2-80-99-doctor-says/ar-AAZWSd1 26th Jul 2022

Lockdown Exit

Reuters U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday said he was feeling great as he recovers from COVID19 and that he expected to end his isolation and return to normal working conditions by the end of the week. Biden held a virtual event with semiconductor manufacturers and several top administration officials to promote legislation aimed at boosting chip production in the United States. His voice was raspy but he seemed otherwise in good health. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/bidens-covid-symptoms-have-almost-completely-resolved-his-physician-says-2022-07-25/ 26th Jul 2022

Lockdown Exit

BBC News Scientists say there is compelling evidence that Wuhans Huanan seafood and wildlife market was at the centre of the Covid19 outbreak. Two peerreviewed studies published on Tuesday reexamine information from the initial outbreak in the Chinese city. One of the studies shows that the earliest known cases were clustered around that market. The other uses genetic information to track the timing of the outbreak. It suggests there were two variants introduced into humans in November or early December 2019. Together the researchers say this evidence paints a picture that SarsCov2 was present in live mammals that were sold at Huanan market in late 2019. They say it was transmitted into people who were working or shopping there in two separate spillover events where a human contracted the virus from an animal. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-62307383 26th Jul 2022

Lockdown Exit

STAT News Nearly three quarters of Americans give the pharmaceutical industry credit for helping contain Covid19 and for a sector thats been roundly criticized for nearly a decade thats a reason to celebrate. A new survey conducted by the Harris Poll for STAT asked more than 4000 people what industries they credit for helping contain the coronavirus and 71 of those surveyed said that the pharmaceutical industry deserves credit more than the number who gave credit to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Food and Drug Administration or the White House. The only entities that received a statistically significant amount more credit were hospitals makers of protective equipment scientists doctors and nurses. https://www.statnews.com/2022/07/26/americans-give-pharma-credit-on-covid/ 26th Jul 2022

Exit Strategies

Xinhua Chinas National Immigration Administration NIA will continue to adjust and improve entryandexit control measures in line with the changing COVID19 situation to fully meet peoples necessary need for crossborder travel a spokesperson said Tuesday. The immigration administration work will also continue to facilitate enterprises production and operation to promote the countrys openingup as well as international exchanges and cooperation said Zhang Ning the spokesperson for NIA. https://english.news.cn/20220726/b843179992934c62a619b65bcff9fa5d/c.html 26th Jul 2022

Exit Strategies

The Wall Street Journal Chinas sluggish progress in vaccinating the elderly and vulnerable against Covid19 is impeding any departure from the cycles of mass testing and lockdowns that are hobbling the worlds secondlargest economy. While the government stepped up efforts to raise inoculation rates in recent months tens of millions of Chinese over 60 remain entirely unvaccinated against Covid19 and many more have yet to take booster shots needed to protect against the Omicron subvariants now fueling outbreaks. Officials have tried to overcome skepticism and inertia against vaccination particularly among the elderly by revealing that top Chinese leaders have taken domestically developed shots and lashing out at what they called irresponsible rumors alleging serious side effects from vaccines. https://www.wsj.com/articles/chinas-zero-covid-policy-drags-on-vaccination-drive-11658745899 26th Jul 2022

Exit Strategies

Reuters EU member states should start preparing now for a new wave of the COVID19 pandemic in autumn and winter the blocs health chief said on Monday saying there had been a worrying increase in outbreaks. European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Stella Kyriakides also warned there was no room for complacency saying the pandemic was not over. Unfortunately the pandemic has shown a worrying increase in several countries she told Cyprus state radio. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/eu-states-should-act-now-covid-19-waves-winter-official-2022-07-25/ 26th Jul 2022

Exit Strategies

Bloomberg Chinas Covid19 infections rebounded with an increase in cases in the south threatening the operations of industry giants including BYD Co. and Huawei Technologies Co. Nationwide cases were 868 for Monday CCTV reported up from 680 a day earlier. Attention is shifting to the southern manufacturing hub of Shenzhen where 19 local cases were detected and authorities have ordered some of Chinas biggest firms to operate within a closed loop system for seven days raising concerns about disruptions to global supply chains. The city government asked its 100 biggest companies including iPhone maker Foxconn and oil producer Cnooc Ltd. to restrict operations only to employees living within a closed loop or bubble with little to no contact with people beyond their plants or offices. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-07-26/china-covid-cases-rise-as-shenzhen-flare-up-ensnares-top-firms 26th Jul 2022

Exit Strategies

Reuters The BA.5 subvariant of Omicron was estimated to make up 81.9 of the circulating coronavirus variants in the United States for the week ended July 23 the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC said on Tuesday. This was higher than the 75.9 prevalence estimated in the preceding week. BA.5 has been driving a surge of new infections globally and has shown to be particularly good at evading the immune protection afforded either by vaccination or prior infection. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/omicron-ba5-makes-up-82-covid-variants-us-cdc-2022-07-26/ 26th Jul 2022

Exit Strategies

Bloomberg China approved its first homegrown Covid antiviral as regulators cleared a medicine from Genuine Biotech that was previously used to treat HIV. The National Medical Products Administration gave the nod to Azvudine from the Henanbased drug company for adults with moderate Covid19 disease under an emergency use authorization according to a statement by the agency on Monday. The drug will compete with Pfizer Inc.s Paxlovid which was approved in China in February shortly before the country experienced its worst outbreak of the pandemic. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-07-25/china-approves-first-homegrown-antiviral-pill-to-combat-covid 25th Jul 2022

Partisan Exits

STAT News Almost two years have passed since Dean Fritzemeier fell ill with Covid in October 2020. As the rest of the world moves on shrugging off new variants and traveling with a vengeance he remains trapped in a life weighed down by the virus. Fritzemeier is always tired but cant sleep. The 52yearold once walked 7 miles a day but now can only get outside if hes pushed in a wheelchair. Along with millions of others the Michigan resident has long Covid. Hes sought treatment at a rehab hospital and traveled to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota one of dozens of U.S. hospitals that have created programs to treat the stillmysterious syndrome. Nothing has helped. Out of desperation he turned to an unproven remedy. Fritzemeiers wife Karen heard about ivermectin from a cousin. https://www.statnews.com/2022/07/26/ivermectin-has-become-a-popular-treatment-for-long-covid-with-a-push-from-doctors-with-ties-to-right-wing-political-groups/ 26th Jul 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

The Wall Street Journal The U.S. has reported about 3600 confirmed or suspected monkeypox cases federal data showed while vaulting near the top of the list of countries with the most known infections since the onset of the global health emergency. The rise in cases comes as the U.S. expands testing capacity broadening the ability to spot new infections but also as the global outbreak continues to grow. Some publichealth experts said rising transmission heightens the chances a broader population will face the risk of infections as the opportunity to slow and potentially stop the outbreak is fading. Data have shown the outbreak is heavily concentrated among men who have sex with men as the virus exploits social networks among people in close contact. This is already a concern but spreading more broadly means the potential added challenge of trying to educate and protect a broader population health experts said. https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-leads-globally-in-most-known-monkeypox-cases-cdc-says-11658835623 26th Jul 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

Bloomberg The Covid19 outbreak forced governments around the world to revamp their pandemic response programs invest in drugs and vaccines and establish viral surveillance systems. Now monkeypox is putting those upgrades to the test and theyre falling short. Getting out in front of the global flareup of the monkeypox virus which has spread to about 16000 people in more than 70 countries in just a few months is an achievable goal according to infectious disease experts. Yet the lack of urgency and coordination in testing and treatment in many parts of the world has prompted the World Health Organization to sound the alarm. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-07-24/monkeypox-proves-elusive-foe-as-who-sounds-alarm-on-global-spread 26th Jul 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

The Associated Press Novavax Inc a biotechnology company dedicated to developing and commercializing nextgeneration vaccines for serious infectious diseases today announced that Nuvaxovid COVID19 vaccine received expanded manufacturing and marketing approval from the Japan Ministry of Health Labour and Welfare MHLW for primary immunization to prevent coronavirus disease 2019 COVID19 caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 SARSCoV2 in adolescents aged 12 through 17. Novavax has partnered with Takeda to develop manufacture and distribute Nuvaxovid in Japan. https://apnews.com/press-release/pr-newswire/covid-technology-health-severe-acute-respiratory-syndrome-infectious-diseases-91c154124489f650fabe516d389f3fe1 26th Jul 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

The Conversation Indonesia During the COVID19 pandemic Chinese cities have repeatedly imposed lockdowns following their central governments stubborn pursuit of ZeroCOVID. But lockdowns werent limited to authoritarian regimes such as China. Many democracies also imposed some form of lockdowns to curb the virus transmission. How effective were they Was it worth it And who was the most adversely affected These are meaningful questions to reflect on especially as drastic COVID19 measures have been lifted as the severity of the viruss impact has waned. https://theconversation.com/how-covid-19-lockdown-measures-and-their-outcomes-varied-in-cities-around-the-world-184682 26th Jul 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

CIDRAP McMaster University researchers in Ontario led the systematic review and network metaanalysis of 40 randomized clinical trials that included 17563 patients comparing the effectiveness of 16 different antiviral drugs or drug combinations including molnupiravir nirmatrelvirritonavir Paxlovid and remdesivir with standard care or a placebo in adults with nonsevere COVID19 up to Apr 25 2022. The researchers noted that most antiviral trials to date have included hospitalized patients with severe or critical disease rather than those with milder illnesses. Furthermore although efficacy data from trials of molnupiravir nirmatrelvirritonavir and remdesivir are promising no headtohead trials have compared these drugs they wrote. This is particularly important as health care systems attempt to prioritize access to effective COVID19 treatments in the early stages of the disease. https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2022/07/covid-19-antivirals-may-cut-risk-hospitalization-death 26th Jul 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

Hospital Healthcare Europe The risk of diabetes after infection with Covid19 remains high for at least three months before declining to background levels. The diabetes risk from infection after acute infection also raises the risk on adverse sequlae as shown by increased used of several therapeutic agents such as pain medication antidepressants anxiolytics and oral hypoglycaemic agents. https://hospitalhealthcare.com/covid-19/diabetes-risk-elevated-for-three-months-after-infection-with-covid-19/ 26th Jul 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

Medical News Today Earlier this month the Food and Drug Administration FDA announced an emergency use authorization EUA for the Novavax COVID19 vaccine. Research shows Novavax to be 100 effective in preventing moderate to severe COVID19. Novavax uses a traditional vaccine model used previously for influenza and shingles vaccines. The United States Department of Health and Human Services has secured 3.2 million doses of Novavax for distribution in the U.S. with ordering opening to medical professionals in the coming weeks. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/fda-and-cdc-recommend-novavax-covid-19-vaccine-what-to-know 26th Jul 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

Reuters COVID19 vaccine maker BioNTech said on Tuesday that it and partner Pfizer have filed a complaint with the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts seeking a judgment that they did not infringe U.S. patents held by rival CureVac. Reporting by Ludwig Burger and Blake Brittain Editing by David Bario and Mark Potter https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/biontech-pfizer-ask-us-court-clearance-over-patent-dispute-with-curevac-2022-07-26/ 26th Jul 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

Bloomberg Bavarian Nordic AS the only company with a vaccine approved for monkeypox said its preparing to run production through the night to meet surging demand after the virus outbreak was declared a global emergency. The flareup of monkeypox which has spread to about 16000 people in more than 70 countries in just a few months was declared a publichealth emergency of international concern by the head of the World Health Organization over the weekend. This is the highest level of alert that aims to marshal more resources globally to curb the outbreak and is the first such ruling since coronavirus started sweeping around the world. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-07-25/monkeypox-vaccine-maker-considers-24-hour-emergency-production 26th Jul 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

Bloomberg Increased drinking fuelled by the pandemic could lead to thousands of extra hospital admissions deaths and cases of disease over the next 20 years experts have warned. A new study commissioned by NHS England from the University of Sheffield found that while lighter drinkers cut their consumption during the pandemic heavier drinkers drank more and may never return to where they were. Experts found that 25 to 34yearolds who were drinking at risky levels before the pandemic were the most likely to increase their drinking when Covid19 hit. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-07-25/thousands-of-hospital-admissions-and-deaths-caused-by-pandemic-drinking 26th Jul 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

The Wall Street Journal An international effort to find the cause of mysterious hepatitis cases among children in dozens of countries yielded a new hypothesis on Monday with research now suggesting that the cases were caused by a pair of viruses working in concert to trigger the liver inflammation in children with a certain genetic susceptibility. Between last October and July 8 1010 probable cases of unexplained hepatitis in children occurred in 35 countries including the U.S. according to the World Health Organization. The cases cant be explained by the familiar causes of hepatitis including hepatitis viruses excessive alcohol consumption or an overdose of the overthecounter pain medicine acetaminophen. https://www.wsj.com/articles/mysterious-hepatitis-cases-in-children-may-have-complex-cause-11658761407 26th Jul 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

Bloomberg The report concludes that consumers mobility demands are evolving in seemingly contradictory ways. On one hand people want inexpensive options but on the other the pandemic accelerated a shift away from mass transit which is the cheapest service available. Ultimately consumers want agile ondemand and affordable transportation which creates challenges that are difficult to reconcile. In that environment new players will struggle to make money as they try to fulfill these demands. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-07-26/getting-around-after-the-pandemic-will-be-a-shared-exercise 26th Jul 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

CIDRAP The White House tomorrow will host a summit on the future of COVID19 vaccines which will be streamed online. One of the main topics is speeding development of a more broadly protective COVID19 vaccine. The Food and Drug Administration FDA vaccine advisory group recently recommended a bivalent booster shot that includes the original SARSCoV2 strain and an Omicron variant and at the meeting several members aired concerns that officials will more frequently face the challenge of tweaking the vaccine to keep up with the quickly evolving virus. At the global level researchers are working on a roadmap for developing a new coronavirus vaccine to broadly protect against the most dangerous ones. https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2022/07/feds-look-ahead-next-generation-covid-vaccines 26th Jul 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

FiercePharma Pfizer and BioNTech arent playing sitting duck in the COVID19 vaccine patent litigation that German mRNA specialist CureVac has brought. After joining forces to develop the massively successful COVID shot Comirnaty Pfizer and BioNTech are now facing what they call threats of a groundless patent infringement suit by a company CureVac who has been unable to bring to market any product to help in the fight against COVID19 the partners said in a complaint filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. Pfizer and BioNTech allege there is an actual immediate substantial and justiciable controversy at play over whether Comirnaty has infringed or will infringe the trio of patents covered in CureVacs lawsuit. Now the partners want the Massachusetts court to rule against the infringement charges and prevent CureVac from pursuing further infringement claims according to the court filings. https://www.fiercepharma.com/pharma/pfizer-biontech-rebuff-curevacs-groundless-patent-infringement-claims-against-covid-19-shot 26th Jul 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

Stat News Robert Gallo apologized for still coughing. The day before President Biden tested positive for Covid19 the famed HIV researcher said he was still recovering from a Covid infection that had left him unable to walk put him in the hospital and made him delusional he said Wednesday during a roundtable discussion about long Covid. Presented by the Global Virus Network a coalition of leading virologists the twoday virtual conference convened experts across disciplines and around the world to ask and answer questions about what causes long Covid how to predict who gets it how to treat it and just possibly how to prevent it. No one has the answers but Gallo who cofounded the group and is also director of the Institute of Human Virology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine puts his money on the amount of virus present right from the start. https://www.statnews.com/2022/07/22/theres-no-one-long-covid-experts-struggle-to-make-sense-of-the-continuing-mystery/ 26th Jul 2022

Coronavirus Resurgence

Stuff Hospital visitors who refuse to wear masks or walk around wards visiting different patients are creating difficulties for Northland hospitals trying to manage Covid19 infections. Dargaville Hospitals general ward reopened to visitors on Tuesday a week after rising infection numbers put a halt to visits. Whangrei Hospitals ward 1 an orthopaedic ward has not had any visitors since July 14 because of a spike in Covid19 infections. It will reopen to visitors on Wednesday as long as there are no further Covid19 cases. https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/129381722/covid19-hospital-visitors-refusing-to-wear-masks-ward-outbreaks-unavoidable 26th Jul 2022

Coronavirus Resurgence

Stuff The Ministry of Health has reported 9256 new community cases of Covid19 and 822 current hospitalisations including 24 in intensive care or high dependency units. In the past seven days there have been an average of 17 deaths confirmed each day as being attributable to Covid19. The sevenday rolling average of community case numbers on Tuesday is 8335. On Monday the ministry reported 6910 new community cases and 836 current hospitalisations including 27 people in intensive care or high dependency units. https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/129380530/covid19-9256-new-case-numbers-822-hospitalisations 26th Jul 2022

Coronavirus Resurgence

The Independent Micronesias first outbreak of COVID19 grew in one week to more than 1000 cases by Tuesday causing alarm in the Pacific island nation. Last week Micronesia likely became the final nation in the world with a population of more than 100000 to experience an outbreak of the disease after avoiding it for 2 12 years thanks to its geographic isolation https://www.independent.co.uk/news/micronesia-ap-pacific-wellington-new-zealand-b2131164.html 26th Jul 2022

Coronavirus Resurgence

North Wales Pioneer The number of hospital patients in England testing positive for Covid19 is showing early signs of falling suggesting the latest wave of infections may have peaked. A total of 12529 people with coronavirus were in hospital on July 25 down 11 on the previous week. It is the sixth day in a row the weekonweek change has shown a drop. Patient numbers had been climbing through much of June and the first half of July driven by the current wave of Covid19 infections. But the latest figures from NHS England show this rise appears to have come to a halt after peaking at 14044 on July 18. https://www.northwalespioneer.co.uk/news/20578664.number-covid-19-hospital-patients-england-shows-signs-falling/ 26th Jul 2022

Coronavirus Resurgence

Reuters The BA.5 subvariant of Omicron was estimated to make up 81.9 of the circulating coronavirus variants in the United States for the week ended July 23 the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC said on Tuesday. This was higher than the 75.9 prevalence estimated in the preceding week. BA.5 has been driving a surge of new infections globally and has shown to be particularly good at evading the immune protection afforded either by vaccination or prior infection. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/omicron-ba5-makes-up-82-covid-variants-us-cdc-2022-07-26/ 26th Jul 2022

Coronavirus Resurgence

Reuters Hospital admissions for COVID19 in Australia have reached a new high for a second straight day data showed on Tuesday while the daily death toll rose to its secondhighest as an outbreak fuelled by a coronavirus subvariant sweeps the country. Nearly 5600 patients infected with COVID are in hospital while 100 new deaths were reported just short of a record 102 deaths on Saturday. Nearly 330000 infections have been reported over the last seven days but authorities say the real numbers could be double that. https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/australias-covid-hospital-admissions-deaths-rise-variant-surges-2022-07-26/ 26th Jul 2022

Coronavirus Resurgence

Reuters The number of Australians admitted to hospitals with COVID19 hit a record of about 5450 on Monday official data showed as the spread of highly contagious new Omicron subvariants strains the healthcare system nationwide. The figure has grown since late June as the BA.4 and BA.5 strains became dominant since they can evade immune protection whether from vaccination or prior infection while some experts say the latter can be as infectious as measles. https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/record-number-covid-hit-australians-hospital-omicron-surges-2022-07-25/ 26th Jul 2022